Yet it turns out that those fiery Cheetos beloved by school children (some kids even made an epic rap
paean to Hot Cheetos a few years ago) actually qualify as a "Smart
Snack" under revised federal nutrition guidelines for schools.
The Obama administration rolled out the new guidelines
last year in a bid to limit the amount of junk food kids eat in school,
but nearly half of all U.S. states have formally rejected the standards
as too strict. Some legislators think the rules make it too hard for
schools to raise money through snack sales at vending machines.
But
at Chicago's Whitney Young High School, Flamin' Hot Cheetos remain
among the most popular snacks sold. "They're good, like, they just taste
delicious," says Cashari Norwood, a junior at the school. "And like,
I'm a vegetarian and so sometimes, I just want to eat something that's
good, and I can't even really get that here."
These aren't just any Flamin' Hot Cheetos. They're a reformulated
version with less fat, less salt and more whole grains. But is that
really what the scientists at the Institute of Medicine had in mind when
they wrote the recommendations that would become the Smart Snack rules?